The History of South Windsor Connecticut:

Settlement to Incorporation

1634 - 1845

Lori Jean Kremidas Historigraphy March 25, 1981 Dr. Hebert Photos by Debbie Kimball

Note from the webmaster

This document is the creation of Lori Kremidas, for her Historigraphy paper in 1981. For inclusion on the web site it was necessary to scan the original, and use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to reproduce it here. This also required some proofreading and correction because OCR technology is not perfect. More important is the fact that my proofreading is not perfect. I was often distracted by the content, which I find very interesting. I apologize to you and Lori for anything I missed. Another side effect of the conversion process was the layout. I have changed it slightly to make it more appealing to the reader. I have submitted it to Ms Kremidas for approval. While we agree, it may be that he professor, Dr Hebert, would not. None the less we offer it here for your enjoyment.

The contents and Graphics (though some have been enhanced) are the same as when Lori wrote on March 25, 1981. While the times we live in have changed, history has not, and this document is as accurate as the day she wrote. She did a wonderful job. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

John Marchesseault Webmaster, www.southwindsor.org

"I have spent this morning in riding through Paradise. My eyes never beheld so fine a country. From Bissell's Tavern in East Windsor to Hartford Ferry, 8 miles, is one continued street, houses all along, and a vast prospect of level country on each hand, the lands very rich and the husbandry pretty good," 1

Quincy Adams 1771

THE HISTORY OF SOUTH WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT: SETTLEMENT TO INCORPORATION 1634 – 1845

In 1614, Adrian Block sailed up the Connecticut River and landed at what is now known as South Windsor, There he found an Indian village belonging to the Newaas, and they called their settlement Newashee, Also in this area were the Podunk Indians, This tribe journeyed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to beg the Puritans to establish a trading post on their lands to protect them from their fierce enemies who subjected them to heavy taxes and restrictions. The Puritans declined the offer of the lands and the Indians took their cause to the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In 1633, the Plymouth Company sailed from Plymouth up to the Sound and then up the Connecticut River. At that time, however, the river had many names and not just one. The Indians referred to it as the Quonectiticot or Long River; also the River of Pines. The Plymouth group called it the Great River, while Adrian Block used the name Fresh River.

The party from Plymouth, Cape Cod Bay, landed at the mouth of the Junscis (now Farmington) River and set up a trading post. They made three purchases of land in 1634. The tract containing what became South Windsor was on the east side of the Great River and was bounded on the south by a line running east from the mouth of the Scantic River for about three miles and on the North by a line running east from the fork of the Nemanick Brook, The east boundary was somewhat indefinite but was approximately three miles east of the Great River and parallel to it.

In 1635, the following year, settlers from Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay, came across country and landed at the mouth of the same Junscis River. They were a much stronger party than the original Plymouth group and settled there against the protests of the first comers and purchasers. Meanwhile, a third group arrived directly from England. This expedition was under the leadership of Mr. Francis Styles and had come under a charter deed from the Earl of Warwick, President of State for the New England Colonies. Since all three groups were Englishmen, they soon compromised. The Dorchester party took the Great Meadow north of the Junscis. Present day South Windsor was located in this tract.

In 1637, the Dorchester party named the area “Windsor". Of the three groups that desired this area, they were the largest and the real founders of the town. The Dorchester men felt that the town should own the rights to the land purchased by the Plymouth men. This latter group proceeded to sell practically the whole of the lands purchased by them, the transaction taking place May 15, 1739:

On consideration of 37₤ - 105 - 0 to be paid about three months hence the said Mr, Prince doth sell unto the Inhabitants of Windsor, all that land, meadow and upland,, from a marked tree a quarter of a mile above Mr. Styles, North; to the great swamp near the bounds of Hartford, south; for breadth; and in length into the country toward Poquonock .... In witness therof, the parties above have set their hands and seals the day and year above written, Surveyor Matthew 2

Half of Windsor was on the east side of the river (present day South Windsor). The settlers had no intention of building homes there, In addition to their home lots on the west side, the settlers were given a proportionate share of land from the east side in the form of strips or "planting lots". These were used as pasturelands.

No land was taken from the Indians by force but was purchased after negotiation with the Indian proprietors. Today, we would consider the prices paid as very inadequate. The extent of the-country covered by all these purchases from the Indians comprised between 150,000 to 175,000 acres, or more than 250 square miles. In 1637, the colonists organized a military expedition to fight the Pequot Indians who had attacked the Wethersfield settlement and killed six men and three women. Windsor provided forty-four men and Captain John Mason was the leader of the little army which had a total of ninety white men from three settlements. This expedition was successful and practically destroyed the Pequot tribe in Connecticut.

In 1639, the General Court conferred on each town the power of local self-government and gave them the authority to sell or otherwise dispose of the land which had been purchased and owned by the communities as a whole up to this time. Title to very little had been acquired by individuals as of yet. A Town Clerk or Registree was to be chosen yearly and a Court of Probation was ordered to be set up for registration of wills and settlement of estates, Dr. Bray Rossitor was chosen as first Town Clerk and held office until 1651. He was succeeded by Matthew Grant.

With homesteads on the west side of the river and the pastureland on the east side, it soon became obvious that there had to be some way of getting men and their cattle across the river, Thus, the Bissell Ferry was born in 1642. The town voted to operate a ferry over the Great River and the contract to operate this ferry was finally taken over by John Bissell in 1648. The ferry bore a resemblance to an oversized raft, In 1655, Bissell moved the east side landing south one mile to a site near Bissell's Hill, south of the mouth of the Scantic River. Bissell's Hill is now known as East Windsor Hill. It is, however, located in South Windsor.

The Bissells were pioneers of East Windsor emigration. Their house was erected in 1658 - 1659. It was the first and for many years the only dwelling-house in what is now South Windsor. In 1662, John Bissell conveyed it to his son Nathaniel by deed.

MAIN STREET

In 1660 a need was felt for a common road along the meadows on the east side of the Great River from the Podunk to the Scantic and thence through Scantic to connect with the "country road" towards Springfield. A number of men were appointed to work on the highway, but nothing was done and in 1680 a complaint was made that this order had been neglected and that the General Court should compel the selectmen to carry out the order. The result was known as Main Street.

It was laid out as a main travel route over which stage coaches from Hartford stopped at Bissell's Tavern in East Windsor Hill to change horses. By 1700, Main Street was teeming with business, shops, merchants and craftsman. Shipping flourished as there was direct trade with England, Spain and the Indies. Flax was raised and sold to . The depression after the Revolutionary War changed all this.

In October 1691, a petition was presented to the General Court asking for the privilege of maintaining a separate church, with the right to procure and settle a minister. This first minister of the east settlement was Timothy Edwards. His church, the First Congregational Church, was located on Main Street. In the beginning it was a small frame meeting house. There was no parsonage; the pastor’s salary was meager, and a supply of firewood was included in the remuneration. The first meeting house was located at the northeast corner of the cemetery on Main Street. It was used until a second one was built, in 1714, at the same place.

Timothy Edwards was a brilliant scholar and theologian. He was the son of a rich Hartford merchant, born in 1669. He was a member of the class of 1691 of Hartford College. In 1694, he moved to South Windsor- known then as Windsor Farmes. He was ordained on May 28, 1698.

Reverend Edwards and his wife were given a farm, a substantial house and some property by his wealthy parents, Mrs. Edwards gave birth to twelve children; ten daughters and two sons. One son died in childhood- the other was Jonathan Edwards. This son grew up to be the most original and systematic theologian of colonial America, He was the outstanding preacher of the Great Awakening in New England.

Timothy Edwards was an educator as well as a clergyman. Many young men who studied with him and received a certificate of scholastic ability, were admitted without examination to Yale, which was then in its infancy. In 1711, he was appointed by the colonial government as chaplain in the army in an expedition to Canada during Queen Anne's War. He accompanied the Provincial troops from New Haven to Albany.

As a minister, he was strict and unbending in his principles. However, for that time he was considered unusually liberal with regard to the education of his children. He prepared all of them for college, daughters as well as his son. He continued to conduct a school for children almost to the time of his death in 1758.

On Main Street there are more than thirty buildings constructed before 1800 still standing. An additional forty built during the early 18OO's can be found. The Congregational Church building is one of the oldest church societies in America, The present building is over one hundred and twenty-five years old, and was built with the timbers from its predecessor. At East Windsor Hill, there are three brick colonials, two of which were built by Aaron Bissell. He was the keeper of Bissell's Tavern, Also located here. This was a famous place of rendezvous for organized militia during the Revolutionary War period. It was located on the old stage route from Hartford to Springfield.

TOBACCO

An important part of the development of South Windsor was tobacco. In 1640 it was brought to the town from Virginia. The home grower of tobacco was protected in 1662 by an act of the Colonial Court at Hartford. It ordered:

... that whenever Tobacco is landed in this Colony there shall be paid by the master of the vessel or merchant Importer unto the Customs Master of the port for every hogshead twenty-five shillings, or two pence per pound .3

This formerly southern-grown plant thrived during the ninety day season of the Connecticut Valley, It was soon produced in large enough quantities for the colonists, There is reference to the use of negro, slaves, and the partial servitude of Indians. Tobacco was grown and shipped to other colonies and to foreign trade. This resulted in a local merchant marine which carried on a profitable trade with South America, the West Indies and Europe.

The Wolcotts, Ellsworths, and Bissells grew tobacco for commercial purposes, Records show, for example, that on November 21, 1752, Captain John Ellsworth sold Captain Grant 1,130 pounds of tobacco. The total amount purchased November 15 and 23 being 26,110 pounds, which was pressed into casks for shipment. These cost twenty-five shillings each and held about four hundred pounds a piece. The cost of labor for packing was three shillings per hundred.

Mrs. Prout, a resident of Main Street, was the first person to roll a cigar in the . It was made entirely of broadleaf; the "gentleman’s cigar" sold for five cents. The wrapper was the best grade of tobacco, the binder the second, and the filler the poorer grades. Other farmers' wives he1ped her to make and sell cigars from village to village by way of wagons, "Long Nines", “Windsor Particulars" and "The Clear New England" were early brands.

Tobacco was the mainstay of the town. Although grown on the same land for three hundred years, and a surface feeder, it did not exhaust the soil. The use of commercial fertilizers has done much to improve the quality and can produce almost any shade or weight of crop desired. In 1901, Marcus L. Floyd grew the first shade tobacco on Rye Street. The object of the shade tent is to produce a thinner, smoother leaf with smaller veins, suitable for fine cigar wrappers.

In 1968, it was estimated that 2250 acres were used for tobacco culture in South Windsor. Two-thousand acres were for broadleaf and Havana seed, the "outdoor" types, commonly grown for cigar binders, but sometimes used for wrappers. Two-hundred and fifty acres were for Cuban or "shade" tobacco. Since then, however, the volume of tobacco grown has decreased and many of the farms have been abandoned due to their lack of profits.

In the northern part of town, another crop was raised in large quantities. This was rye; and another street came to be named after it. Rye Street ran through the high land east of the Scantic River. The production of rye led to the building of many distilleries. The Podunk Grist Mill was first built in 1750 and later rebuilt in 1775 after a flood carried off the first mill. The original dam built for the mill was constructed by colonists and Indians, It was first run by Samuel Rockwell. There was a saw mill on the other side of the river and a footbridge connecting the two. Corn, buckwheat and rye were ground at the mill.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

In Colonial times, the northeastern corner of South Windsor was referred to as Wapping. The first settler in this area is thought to have been Joseph Stedman. Other pioneers of the area were Nathaniel Drake and Benjah Starkweather. They established a little local government on a military plan and were known as the Wapping Soldiers. In 1761, this little band secured "winter privileges". This is the right to employ a minister through the winter months so that the people would not have to travel in bitter and hazardous weather. In their petition for such, it was stated that there were “two hundred soules in thirty-two families, and they had to travel four and one-half miles to church, ‘through the wilderness'".4

Through all the colonial period, the early towns had continuously maintained forms of military organizations, which came to be known as train-bands. South Windsor maintained two such train-bands at the outbreak of the American Revolution. One was on the west-side under the command of Captain Amasa,

Loomis, known as the South Parish train-bard. The other was based in Wapping under the command of Captain Matthew Grant. Each responded to the Lexington Alarm; many died in the Revolutionary War.

At a South Windsor town meeting in December 1774, a "Committee of Safety" was created. The duty of the committee was to:

...attentively observe the conduct of all persons in this town touching such association and endeavor that the same be invoilable kept and observed. 5

One of its first arrests was Justus Miles, a reputed Tory, who was assigned to Edward Chapman Grant of Wapping. Members of the Committee of Safety Included Deacon Benoni Olcott, Erastus Wolcott, William Wolcott, Charles Ellsworth, Captain Ebenezer Grant, Daniel Ellsworth and Captain Lemuel Stoughton.

Old East Windsor was known as a "provision town" during the Revolutionary War. Deacon Benoni Olcott had charge of supplying arms and ammunition; Ebenezer Grant, the merchant, of supplying clothing and Lemuel Stoughton of providing commissariat supplies, beef, pork, and flour to the Continental Army. Since lead was sorely needed by the Army, lead settings of the diamond-shaped panes of glass were taken out of some houses. The meeting house was robbed of its lead window-settings and sash weights. Clock-weights were confiscated, and many clocks at that time were silent “for the duration".

After the Battle of Lexington, Governor Trumbull appealed to the Sons of Connecticut for volunteers to fill out General Putnam's regiment. Men from South Windsor joined the General’s camp at Cambridge before the battle at Bunker's Hill was fought, Upon receiving the news of Lexington, four companies sprang up. They were the North Parish, commanded by Lemuel Stoughton; South Parish under the leadership of Amasa Loomis; Wapping Parish (as was previously mentioned) led by Matthew Grant; and the last group consisted mainly of those enlisted from Ellington. They were commanded by Charles Ellsworth.

In the Spring of 1778, after General Lafayette had abandoned the enterprise of invading Canada, he made his headquarters for a time in South Windsor at the house of Mr. Nathaniel Porter. At his suggestion, British Hessian prisoners were employed in planting trees along the highway. Among the entertainments of the officers were horseracing and betting. The races began at General Lafayette's house and ended at the Fitch house. The citizens of South Windsor disapproved of these races.

General Lafayette made many short trips to Rhode Island, and Mr. Justus Grant of Wapping was usually with him, The two often wrestled together, with Grant often victorious. However, Lafayette was more adept than Grant at fencing, General Rochambeau's French troops were stationed in South Windsor at the same period as Lafayette. Many balls and parties were given in their honor and the townsmen and ladies attended.

Old East Windsor was also well known as a spot in which war prisoners were quartered. As an example, in 1777, Major General Prescott, British general in command of Rhode Island, who was noted for cruelty and haughtiness, and especially for his contemptible treatment of Ethan Allan in Montreal in 1775, was stationed at the Major F. W. Grant mansion for nearly one year. William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, son of Benjamin Franklin, was quartered in this town with Lieut. Diggins. The son's efforts to counteract all of his father's efforts as Minister to France made his-arrest indispensable. Franklin had a juvenile guard placed over him to prevent his escape. Both boys were fourteen years old; they were Dyer Newberry and Benjamin Skinner.

LOST POTENTIAL

As previously mentioned, it was this post-war period that saw the loss of commerce in South Windsor. Due to its proximity to the Connecticut River, the town had had its share of the shipping activity of the eighteenth century. It was successfully engaged in by many South Windsor citizens. Captain Ebenezer Grant operated largely in shipping commerce, owning many boats and buildings located at the mouth of the Scantic River. Among the articles exported were ship materials, staves, grains, and turpentine. Also, large quantities of rum and molasses were imported from the West Indies. However, all this began to change when Hartford Bridge was built in 1808; it obstructed navigation on the Connecticut River. This, combined with European wars, the shifting of the river channel, and competition from the railroads made shipping unprofitable and it was discontinued.

The railroad was also the reason that South Windsor lost the Theological Institute of Connecticut to Hartford, The man who was largely responsible for its initial location in East Windsor Hill was Erastus Ellsworth. He was one member of the very prominent family of that name which furnished many an eminent person throughout our colonial and national eras. For many years, Mr. Ellsworth had been a merchant in Brooklyn, New York, but he retired in 1824 and came to East Windsor Hill to live. In 1833 and 1834, he purchased the lands on which it was eventually built and conveyed it to the Institute by deed, dated September 30, 1834.

The Institute consisted of two buildings: the chapel, and the dormitory and classroom building. The doorstep from the home of Reverend Timothy Edwards was used as the cornerstone of the chapel. The Theological Institute occupied the premises for about twenty-five years before it moved to Hartford. When it was built, public travel was by stage coach only, Hence, the location there was as convenient as any other place. The introduction of the railroad rapidly changed travelling conditions and caused a problem which necessitated the need to move. So perhaps it was at this time that South Windsor's path of development began to change direction and follow another route. It was never to become an industrial or commercial center as Hartford and some of the other surrounding towns eventually did. Instead, it became a community in which many people found it very dersirable to live. It is slightly ironic that the original settlers had no intention of using the east side of the river for their homes, and yet South Windsor eventually became a primarily residential community.

LONG HILL

There is a section of South Windsor called "Long Hill”. It is near the southeastern corner, so named because of the peculiar formation of the land. The hill is one-half to three-quarters of a mile in length, extending north to south, lying partly in South Windsor, and partly in East Hartford. In the mid-1800’s, there were only nine dwellings and a school located here.

The Long Hill school had both summer and winter terms; the former beginning on the first Wednesday in May, the latter on the first Monday after Thanksgiving. The teachers' wages in 1838 and 1839 were one dollar a week and board for the woman instructor, and twelve dollars a month for the male teacher. Each family in the district boarded the teacher a certain number of days, according to the number of school age children in the family.

Schoolbooks were not provided by the town, but by each family. The opening exercises in school consisted of reading from the New Testament by each child in school who could read, taking turns in reading two verses each. Some teachers followed this with a prayer.

The students' writing books were made of sheets of paper stitched together, Goose quills were used as pens. These were sharpened and made ready by the teacher. They frequently required repairing and often during the lesson one would hear, "Teacher, please mend my pen".6 The ink would freeze in the winter and the ink bottles would be set around the stove to thaw out.

The boys and girls had recess separately. The games of the boys included "Fox and Geese", and "On the King's Land"; while the girls played "A Knight from Spain". Though held in such a modest building, the Long Hill school had the reputation of being the best school In town.

Samuel Elmer is supposedly the first person to have settled on Long Hill. The Indians were generally friendly and frequently came to the house for food or barter. Elmer was a Revolutionary War soldier who served through five campaigns. He was on Long Island when the British landed; in Now London under General Gates; at the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga; at Horse Neck in May 1779 and belonged to the regiment that the traitor Arnold sold to the British at West Point in 1780. He also took part in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga under Ethan Allen.

Around 1845, the people of South Windsor had some unique means of recreation. One of these was the "husking-bee". Old and young, boys and girls, would gather in the evening in some neighbor's barn or corn- house, well-lighted by lanterns that hung on the beams or from the rafters, before a great heap of corn, which would be rapidly husked. If some-one were to find a "red-ear". he would have to pay a forfeit.

Another form of amusement was the "apple-paring bee”, where all would gather In the big kitchen, and pare a large quantity of apples for applesauce, The fun was in counting the seeds of the apple. After taking a paring off without a break, the person would circle it around their head and throw it on the floor. Then they would imagine that it formed the letters of the name of the one the person would marry.

As far as communication with the rest of the area, there was the railroad from New Haven to Hartford. The most rapid made of travel was on horseback or stagecoach, The stages ran regularly between the large cities carrying the mail with a few passengers and their baggage. There were few newspapers and magazines to be found. Postage was at one time twenty-five cents, afterward ten cents, reduced to three cents, and then only two cents. Correspondence was carried on entirely by letters conveyed by the stages. Letters were written on large sheets of paper, folded in such a way as to leave one page blank for the outside, on which was written the address.

A woman who was growing up at this time and was a resident of South Windsor wrote:

People did not seem to be so restless, so desirous of frequent changes, nor care to move about so quickly from one place to another. There was not that hurry and rush in work and business that is so common now.7

INCORPORATION

Back in 1768, Windsor had separated into East Windsor and Windsor. Then in 1786, Ellington was set off from East Windsor. East Windsor now remained unbroken for the next eighty years. Its population continued to grow and it soon became too large for convenience. A resolution to divide the town was passed 133 to 32 votes. In May 1845, upon the petition of Harvey Elmer and others, all that part lying south of, a line commencing at the mouth of the Scantic River and running south to the Ellington line, was set off from East Windsor and incorporated as a separate town- South Windsor, The first meeting was held on the first Monday of August 1845.

Some of the original town officers included Ebenezer Pinney as Town Clerk and Benone 0. King as Representative to the General Assembly. Theodore Elmer acted as Moderator; he called the first meeting to order. The earliest town officers were Townsmen, Constables and Surveyors. The duties of the Townsmen were confined mostly to the care of the poor. The Constables were officers of superior dignity, They represented law and order. The Surveyors’ duties pertained to the layout and allotment of lands to the settlers. Officers chosen included the followings Elizer W. Drake and Sanford Grant as Selectmen; Sanford Buckland and Francis Bancroft as Constables; James B. Wood, Henry White and Willis Stoughton as Grand Jurors; Abizer Porter as Gager of Casks; and Erastus Ellsworth and Samuel Elmer as Highway Surveyors.

A town was considered incorporated when a Constable had been appointed by the General Court. Other town offices were as follows: Chimney-Viewers, Fence-Viewers, Pounders of stray cattle, Way-Wardens (surveyors of highways), Town Bailiff, Brander of horses and Lister (now assessor).

It is set down as follows in the original records:

We the undersigned Selectmen of the Town of East Windsor and of South Windsor ... did on the 27th and 28th days of August 1845 run the dividing line between said towns commencing at the center of the mouth of Scanitic River and running thence south 84°9’ East 40 chains 75 links to Ellington town line and established said line by setting bounds on the same every 80 rods. Dated at South Windsor this 4th day of October 1845.

Asahel C. Stiles Henry W. Allen Selectmen of East Windsor

Elizer W. Drake Sanford Grant Selectmen of South Windsor 8

A General Assembly of the State of Connecticut was held in Hartford on the first Wednesday of September 1845, Upon petition of Harvey Elmer and others it was resolved by that body that the area specified should officially become the town of South Windsor. It was granted all the powers, privileges, and immunities of other Connecticut towns. They were responsible for maintaining their poor and had the right to send one representative to the General Assembly. The burden of keeping and maintaining the ferry belonged to the new town. However, taxes were collected from the residents of South Windsor by East Windsor, as though the resolve had not passed.

At a meeting held on Monday, October 6, 1845, these resolves were made:

(1) to raise money for present liabilities of the town to defray necessary expenses for the ensuing year (2) to choose special commissions to regulate and restrain the sale of Wines and Spirituous liquors as required by an act passed b y the General Assembly of Connecticut (3) to appoint an agent to manage the town depositer fund- also to choose a treasurer for same. (4) Also, to adopt or make such By-laws as may be thought expedient to Restrain Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, and such other Creatures as may be thought necessary from going at large in the Highways of said town (5) Also, when and where the annual meeting should be held 9

In this same year of incorporation, South Windsor adopted a Town Seal. It was very plain and when it was worn out the town ran a contest for a now one. It was designed by Doris P. Burgdorf and adopted June 2, 1969. She had tried to create a seal that would particularly identify the character of South Windsor.

The items pictured on the seal includes the Indian arrowheads which are a reminder of the Indian culture that proceeded us; the lattice work which was the motif used by our early cabinetmakers, clockmakers, iron workers, and engravers. It also represents shad netting, which along with the symbolic fish, associates us with the river. It is a reminder of the wealth of nature we have not yet destroyed in our woodlands and meadows. The river is a source of future recreational needs; it will continue to be of importance. The tobacco pictured on the seal represents our most singular identity. It was for this crop that our land was originally cleared. However, the farming of tobacco is disappearing from our landscape. The growing plant signifies our agricultural past. Our automated future sits in the shield of our state of Connecticut. The shield was borrowed from the seal of the town of East Windsor. This similarity is to associate us with the town of which we were a part before 1845.

CONCLUSION

Every town or city has a unique character and this must be attributed to its history. Each is the product of the past events that have transpired there. By presenting South Windsor's history through its first two hundred years, this paper hopes to show how the town evolved into its present state (or at least its character circa 1845). Although South Windsor shares many things in common with a number of residential communities around the country, its New England and colonial heritage add something that is not found everywhere. Though at one time it held the potential to become a center of commerce (through its shipping on the Connecticut River), certain events and inventions in the area of transportation made South Windsor a less advantageous center for industry. However, it is one of the most charming communities in the Connecticut Valley. The Historic District located along Main Street and East Windsor Hill hold numerous reminders of the past. South Windsor looks to the future, while remembering where it has been.

.FOOTNOTES.

1 South Windsor Civic Homes Tour Pamphlet

2 Original Land Transactions

3 South Windsor: Historical Brief

4 Miriam Mutscher, "The Old Bissell Ferry," Northern Connecticut Bazaar 13 April 1976.

5 South Windsor: Historical Brief, P. 25.

6 Mary Janette Elmore, Long Hill: South Windsor, Connecticut (So. Windsor, Conn.: S. W, Historical Society, Inc. 1976). p. 55.

7 Ibid., 61.

8 Town Votes Volume One 1845 - 1895 South Windsor

9 Ibid.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Elmore, Mary Janette. Long Hill: South Windsor, Connecticut. South Windsor, Connecticut: S W. Historical Society, Inc . 1976.

Gillette, William. Letters on the History of South Windsor. March 1857 - May1858.

"It All Goes Back to the Indians." Journal Inquirer, 9 September 1970.

Mutscher, Miriam. "History of Early South Windsor: Ellsworth Memorial High School." Northern Connecticut Bazaar, 9 July 1974.

Mutscher, Miriam. "In Early South Windsor."

Mutscher, Miriam, "The Old Bissell Ferry." Northern Connecticut Bazaar 13 April 1976.

Original Windsor Land Transactions

"School Was Named For Timothy Edwards," Journal Inquirer, 9 September 1970.

South Windsor Civic Homes Tour Pamphlet

South Windsor: Historical Brief

"South Windsor Town Seal Reflects Past," Journal Inquirer, 9 September 1970.

Town Votes Volume One 1845 1895 South Windsor

Map of South Windsor, circa 1981

Map circa 1869

TOWN SEAL

South Windsor

Built by Aaron Bissell in 1812 for his daughter Sophia Bissell Haskill located on East Windsor Hill

Old Burying Grounds – God’s Acre Resting Place of the first settlers east of the river and their pastor, Timothy Edwards

Post Office and Store From this building dry goods and groceries were offered to the public for over two hundred years. The store, operated in 1727 by Nathan Day, was discontinued in 1954. One of the Nation’s oldest, this Post Office, the only one known to be in a historic district, received the first government post rider in 1783. (note from Webmaster: This is the oldest continually operated post office in the country)

Home of Nathan Day; Constructed in 1734

Natural Boundaries of South Windsor

The Connecticut River photographed from Bissell’s landing

The Scantic River

Tobacco barns such as this are found all over South Windsor

The First Congregational Church on Main Street, Timothy Edward’s Church

Home of Bennet Tyler – President of the Theological Institute. It was built in 1835.

The Burial site of Erastus Ellsworth - responsible for the location of the Institute in South Windsor. He is buried in the cemetery located next to the high school named for him. (note from the webmaster: The high school, once part of the Theological Institute, now houses the administrative offices of the Board of Education)

The Home of Jemmy Bissell, built in 1793

The Bissell Family burying place. Located on Rye Street next to Rye St Park and across the street from The Bissell house pictured above.